Sunday, December 04, 2005

Sidetracked Again (again)

[quote="b frank and RobeFRe"]I am always amazed at the way Calvinists go atArmenians with a full tilt while Armenians seem to stand there and take it.[/quote]

I think that you have noticed one aspect of this debate which "by-standers"can hardly fail to spot.

In general, I think Arminians do not choose to attack their Brethren.Wesley disagreed with his Calvinist friends, but never went to war withthem on this issue. He was far too busy preaching the Word of God (theBible, which in practice if not in terminology he regarded as "inerrant").he was far too busy preaching a Gospel which saw people convicted ofsin, pointed to the Saviour dying on the Cross, brought tofaith in Him, born again, and brought into living holy livesas a fruit of having been saved.

Now what I see from posts on web sites which are supposed to be about"discernment" issues such as the apostasy facing us, is shocking. I see anungracious "full tilt" assault on those who do not accept that salvation isforced on people regardless of their choice; who believe that the scope ofthe Atonement (the work of our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary,and all that involves) is unlimited; who believe that, having been saved byfaith in our Lord Jesus Christ, we are called and destined to holiness oflife.

I see people eager to stick the knives in those who do not dot every T andcross every I of TULIP. I see people condemning them to burn in hellbecause anything other than full-blown calvinism is an abominable falsegospel which is far more satanic than anything the new-age movement, thananything that roman-catholicism, has ever produced.

Now it is not my calling to attack calvinism. And I don't need to. Thetotal lack of any "fruit of the Holy Spirit" shown by the propponents ofcalvinism attacks it far more eloquently than I ever could. And if you wantto find a starting point for Biblical analysis of calvinism, trywww.thebereancall.com . Dave Hunt's book, "What Love is This?" isvery long because it includes a meticulous statement of what calvinismteaches. And Dave Hunt submitted his findings to calvinist teachers so thatthey could confirm or correct that he had got it right. By contrast, I findin this debate all sorts of things falsely attributed to Arminianism without

any effort to check the facts. So I have tried to restrict my contributions

to showing something of what Arminian thinking actually is, rather thancommenting on calvinism.

This post is too long, but I must add a footnote. I have found on anotherweb site the name of Rick Warren included amongst "Arminians". But Warren's